Classic Dirt Bike – August 2019

Therehasbeenatleastsomeprogressinthe

workshop withour collectionofmachinery.

Threenot

of akind

Words:TimBritton

Jerry’sJumbo
Jerry’srolled up his sleevesand is pushing on toreach
rollingframestagewiththeSWMandsofar he’s more
than pleasedwith theresults. Overthelast fewweeks,
asIhavecontinued with the SWMrestoration,my
mood hasswung from cripes what-have-I-donewhen I
findyetanother problem, to ridiculous optimism when
Iwork out howtosolveit.
Of most concernwasthe holed primarychain case
andthefactthat itwasathin castingwasbad enough,
but it being made of magnesium onlymade matters
worse.Ithoughtit wasscrapbutJ&S Engineering of
ColwynBayobviouslythought differently. Isent them
pictures andexpected them to tell me the badnews,
but no.Theysaid send it up and theywould sortitout
andtheydid!Theirchapis obviouslyamagician–just
acouple of coats ofpaintand itlooks great.
My initialwantslisthas grownslightlyasIhave
realised thefrontmudguardstays andthe handlebars
arewrong. Otherwise I’vebeen luckyasconsidering
the machine had beenin bits for20years,very little
had been lost.
With part twoofthewants listcompiled,getting
the SWM down to bareframereadyfor colour proved
to belaughablyeasy. Firstthough,Itestfittedagood

second-handbash plate andgaveit afewtweaks

for the perfectfit. This is bestdone beforethe frame

is restoredrather thanrepeatedlyoffering it up to a

beautifullyfinished frame.Thatcompleted,Imade

anewrear mudguardmountingboss toreplace a

damagedone and sent the frameofftohaveitwelded

in, also asking theweldertolayer somebrazeinto

scars where somebodyhad been heavy handed with a

grinder whileremoving thebrake leverbolt.

Havingtheframerepaired andreadyforrefinishing

wasamassiveturning point andahugepsychological

boost, but nowthere-build proper starts.

In chargeof theframefinishingwere CJ Powder

Coatingsof Grimsbyand fortunatelyshoddypaint

stripping on the forkyokeshadleft enough ofthe

original colourforthemtomakeagood match.They

chemicallystripped the entireframein ahot tank,

gaveit the lightestblast and thenre-coatedit,first in

primer,then in thecorrect glorious metallicbluefinish

andfinallywith lacquer. Comparing it withmycolour

matchparts afterwardsshowedthe colour to bespot

on too.Theyreallyseem togo theextramileonthis

sort ofjob, it looksamazing and thelustrous candy

finishreallysparkles in thesunlight.

With theframein thecorrect coloureverypart

Below:TheSWMblue

is anicecolour.